Motor-CAD Software for

Design of Electric Motors

2 June 2017
Motor Design Ltd (MDL)
➢ MDL was founded in 1998
➢ Develop Motor-CAD software for electric motor design
➢ High level of customer support and engineering know-how
➢ Motor design software is developed by motor engineers
➢ Provide software for motor design and electric motor design consultancy & training
➢ Involved in large research projects:
➢ Evoque_e / Concept_e – Electric vehicle development with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)
➢ HVEMS – High Volume E-Machines Manufacturing Supply research. Make-Like-Production prototyping facility in the UK
with Jaguar Land Rover.
➢ Clean Sky - ELETAD – Helicopter electric tail rotor
➢ Clean Sky - HERRB – Helicopter main rotor brake/generator
➢ Horizon 2020 …………
➢ Consultancy and funded projects aid in Motor-CAD software development
➢ ANSYS Technology Strategic Partners with Motor-CAD links to ANSYS software
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 Worldwide Software Distribution & Users
➢ Motor-CAD is distributed Worldwide
• New features are driven by user requirements
• We work closely with our customers
https://www.motor-design.com/distributors/

➢ Our customers are across multiple market sectors

• Automotive: Bosch, BMW, Daimler, GM, JLR, Porsche, BorgWarner, Renault – Nissan …
• Aerospace: Ametek, BAE, Eaton, Thales, Safran, Goodrich, UTC …….
• Industrial: ABB, Kollmorgen, Regal Beloit, SEW, Siemens .……
• Traction: ABB, Bombardier, Caterpillar, GE, Komatsu….…
• Renewable: Alstom, Gamesa, GE, Siemens, Vestas ……
• Universities: Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield ……

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Motor-CAD Software
➢ Motor-CAD EMag, Therm and Lab modules are
developed to enable fast and accurate analysis in
one integrated software
➢ EMag: A fast 2D finite element module for
accurate electromagnetic and electrical
performance predictions.
➢ Therm: Combines a lumped circuit and finite
element thermal calculation for optimising the
cooling system of a machine.
➢ Lab: Provides efficiency mapping and duty cycle /
drive cycle transient outputs within minutes

➢ Written by motor design experts in the language of

the motor designers so very easy to use
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Motor-CAD EMag
➢ Extensive range of
parametrised templates
geometries with additional
flexible DXF or script based
geometry definition
Rotor Geometry
➢ Fastest FEA Created using DXF
electromagnetic solver
available as code written in
assembly code
➢ Smart loss calculation
algorithms speed up
solving – including magnet
losses with segmentation
and proximity losses
➢ Standard or custom
winding designs Rotor Geometry
Created using Script
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Many Geometry Types and Topologies

➢Many geometry options for components such as housings, rotors, slots, windings …
Motor-CAD Therm
➢ Thermal and flow network
analysis of electric motors &
generators
➢ Network set up automatically
using proven mathematics for
heat transfer and air/fluid flow
➢ Extensive range of cooling types
➢ Nearly 20 years of practical
manufacturing experience built
in to assist quantify
manufacturing issues
➢ Provides detailed understanding
of main heat transfer paths and
cooling restrictions
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Cooling Types Investigated
Motor-CAD includes models for an extensive range of cooling types:
➢ TENV: Totally enclosed non-ventilated
➢ natural convection from housing
➢ TEFC: Totally enclosed fan cooled
➢ forced convection from housing
➢ Through Ventilation
➢ TE with Internal Circulating Air
➢ Internal air circulating path
➢ water jacket as heat exchanger
➢ Open end-shield cooling
➢ Water Jackets
➢ axial or circumferential
➢ Submersible cooling
➢ Wet Rotor & Wet Stator cooling
➢ Spray Cooling
➢ e.g. oil spray cooing of end windings
➢ Direct conductor cooling
➢ e.g. Slot ducts with oil
Steady-State & Transient Thermal Analysis
Steady-State Temperatures and Power Flow

Thermal Transient Graphs

➢ We can calculate the steady-state or transient thermal

performance
➢ Even long and complex transients only take a few seconds to
calculate – very useful for traction motor drive cycle analysis
Motor-CAD Integrated Thermal FEA Solver
➢ Motor-CAD’s integrated FEA thermal solver allows fast
calibration of the winding thermal resistance network and
improved visualization of the winding hotspot location
Heat Transfer and Flow Network Analysis
➢Both heat transfer and flow networks are automatically set up
➢The two networks are linked
➢MDL have improved correlations for such things as developing flow in the airgap and
rotating duct pressure drop, etc. via a sponsored PhD

Temperature rise of fluid as it

passes through the cooling system
Manufacturing Data Built into Models
➢Many manufacturing uncertainties that affect temperature rise:
➢ Goodness of effective interface between stator and housing
➢ How well the winding is impregnated or potted
➢ Leakage of air from open fin channel blown over machines
➢ Cooling of the internal parts in a TENV and TEFC machine
➢ Heat transfer through the bearings … etc.
➢Test program over last 20 years developing data to quantify such issues:
➢ Set default parameters in Motor-CAD giving good level of accuracy without the user having done extensive
calibration using testing of their own machines
➢ Also automated choice of model type to give high accuracy
Equivalent interface gap that Interface resistance and
is useful to non heat transfer conductance data that is
specialist as easy to visualise suitable for thermal experts

Example of assistance
given to set stator
lamination to housing
interface thermal
resistance

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Motor-CAD Lab: Virtual Testing Laboratory
Virtual testing including fast calculation of Efficiency Maps/Losses and Duty Cycle Analysis
➢ Facilitates very fast and accurate calculation of the motor electromagnetic and thermal
performance over the full torque/speed envelope by use of intelligent loss algorithms
➢ Suited to applications such as traction applications that have complex duty cycle loads
➢ Automated calculation of optimum phase advance angle for maximum torque/amp or
maximum efficiency control
Efficiency map with drive cycle overlaid Loss v Time calculated from Temperature v Time for a particular
efficiency map to be input into drive cycle
thermal model
Motor-CAD Lab: FEA Mapping Model
➢ Flux linkage and losses calculated using FEA method at
limited number of current and phase advance values with
interpolation to give fast efficiency and loss map calculation
➢ Gives an accurate calculation of the iron and magnet losses
over the full torque/speed graph
Motor-CAD Lab: Thermal Envelope

➢ Co-simulation between electromagnetic model

(via efficiency and loss maps) with thermal
model gives a quick and accurate prediction of
the continuous torque envelope
➢ Maximum torque at different speeds for a
limiting winding and rotors temperature
➢ We can also calculate the peak torque envelope
➢ Thermal transient for a set amount of time
that gives a certain maximum winding
temperature
➢ Useful to compare one motor design against
another or to show the benefits of design
changes like improved slot insulation material
 Many Possible Motor Design Configurations
➢ Many motor types and topologies have been
developed recently:
➢ As seen by the wide range of EV traction
motor designs on the market
➢ Motor-CAD easy to use interface and fast
calculation times are very useful for
designers to evaluate different motor design
concepts

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Motor-CAD Links to ANSYS
Software
 Motor-CAD EMag – Maxwell Links
• All the information
required to make a
calculation in
Maxwell is passed
from Motor-CAD
• Geometry, material
properties,
excitations and
boundary conditions Maxwell
Motor-CAD
are automatically set-
up Maxwell
VBS Script

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 Motor-CAD Lab: Links to Maxwell
• Electromagnetic data can be imported from Maxwell to create
efficiency maps and calculate performance over duty cycles.

Model Created in Maxwell Maxwell Driven by Motor-LAB

Efficiency Map
Resulting Thermal Transient Duty Cycle Loss Data in Motor-LAB &
in Motor-CAD Sent to Motor-CAD Define Duty Cycle

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Motor-CAD 3D Links to ANSYS Tools
• Motor-CAD 3D Geometry exported into ANSYS workbench through
Design Modeler

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Motor-CAD and Fluent
• Motor-CAD and Fluent CFD complement each other
• In Motor-CAD it is fast to create models and solve
• CFD is more time consuming to construct models and
make calculations
• Useful to filter designs using Motor-CAD and do CFD on
final candidate
• Then use results to calibrate Motor-CAD convection &
flow formulations
• Assistance in CFD model setup using links to Motor-CAD
being developed
• Speed up the creation of CFD models

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Motor-CAD/Fluent Calibration Example

➢Detailed flow modelling using Fluent CFD can be used validate/calibrate the
convective cooling around the end-windings due to air movement induced by
rotation

Fluent Correlation for Convection

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Motor-CAD/Fluent Calibration Example
• Fluent CFD can be used to study the water jacket heat transfer &
pressure drop in great detail and used to validate/calibrate the
correlation models used in Motor-CAD

Path Lines Static Pressure Temperature Profile

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Motor-CAD – Icepak Links

Motor-CAD

Icepak

➢Automatically pass the thermal resistance network from Motor-CAD to Icepak for the
main body of the machine
➢Solve the main body of the motor in Icepak as a thermal resistance network and the
housing cooling system as a CFD problem
➢Allows extremely fast combined lumped circuit/CFD simulations times

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Integration with ANSYS Software for Magnetic
and Thermal Sizing
Maxwell 2-D/3-D
Electromagnetics Magnetic and Thermal Sizing

ANSYS CFD

RMxprt Motor-CAD

ANSYS
Design Modeler Ansys Links to
Mechanical
Motor-CAD
Thermal/Stress

Automated links to ANSYS multi-physics

environment being developed to simplify and
speed up sophisticated design calculations

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